The work of The Opportunity Institute cuts across issue silos to address the complex barriers to social mobility at critical junctures in people’s lives. We focus broadly on educational opportunities, beginning with infant and toddler development and continuing to PreK through grade 12 schooling, higher education completion, pathways out of incarceration, and into early career and family support. Our projects include Partners for Each and Every Child, Renewing Communities, Science of Learning and Development, and Just Equations.

Programs

Our education system must deliver excellence and equity effectively, everywhere, for everyone. Focused on Pre-K through 12 education, this project aims to ensure that our education systems improve student outcomes by building and supporting a collaborative, multi-sector community network with this shared goal.

Millions of people, more than half of whom are parents of minor children, have been ensnared in our criminal justice system. All deserve a chance to succeed. This project works to repair the damage wrought by mass incarceration by building pathways from corrections to college, career entry, and family security.

To better utilize new scientific knowledge about how children grow and learn, this project will work to elevate the science of learning and development as a key driver of system transformation in education policy and practice, advancing deep personalization of learning and the learning experience to support all students in achieving their full potential.

Blog

As we reflect on the current logic model of federal support for education policy in states and districts, we may have occasion to look to advancements in medical science for a measure of inspiration and relief.

The Trump administration's decision to end DACA puts thousands of immigrant students and teachers squarely in the crosshairs of the federal government, threatening young people who are bettering themselves and their communities.

It can be tempting for those of us acting in the national policy sphere to see the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) as an opportunity to start fresh. But “stakeholder engagement” is not new, and requiring that it be part of policy decision-making is not special to ESSA.

How can we respond to armed engagement between civilians in our public squares and to the gravely un-American statements by our president? We must embrace a renewed intensity in the struggle for opportunity.

A new report from Partners for Each and Every Child shares promising practices education leaders can use to develop high-quality, meaningful stakeholder engagement processes that help advance equity and excellence in our schools.

Formerly incarcerated scholar and Soros Fellow Danny Murillo asks, what role do formerly incarcerated students play in challenging the stigma of incarceration, advocating for policy change and seeking social justice? Through the development of a statewide network, he seeks to amplify their voices to advocate and implement an equitable system of higher education for all.

Renewing Communities is dedicated to ensuring that currently and formerly incarcerated students are welcomed into and effectively served by our state's public higher education system, now and into the future. The initiative is based on two years of research and human-centered design, and will run from 2016 through the end of 2019.

Faced with high proportions of students needing remedial math courses in college, education systems across the country are prioritizing the goal of improving college readiness. Approaches include both strengthening K12 instruction and better aligning K12 and postsecondary expectations.

Publications

Higher education reduces recidivism, changes lives, and builds stronger communities. This report highlights California’s successful efforts to build public higher education access for thousands of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated students, both in custody and on college campuses throughout the state.

A report from Partners for Each and Every Child explores how thoughtful, meaningful, structured, and ongoing dialogue among a variety of stakeholders is not only legally required, but is essential to unlocking the promise of ESSA and advancing excellence with equity in our schools.